Specialty Restaurants - Prices Going UP

[keithm]

Steep discounts available to everyone without having to ask or constantly walk by or stalk those seeking patrons for the specific venue?? No offense but I'm sure you have your tricks to getting a discount however one shouldn't have to

We just "schmooze" ("sweet talk" for those that don't understand schmoozing)the person hosting the Specialty rest. table. You always saw them outside the buffet, or most often when you got back on board from an excursion.

[smslms]

I'm envious of the folks who have the benefit of being able to drive down to FLL and embark on many varied itineraries.

 

For many of us however we are looking at the cost of pre and post cruise hotels, airfare and the cost of the cruise. While we don't eat that often in the specialty restaurants, an increase of $4 isn't going to be the deciding factor.

[San10s]

We have dined many times at the Crown Grill but do feel the quality in beef and service have disintegrated in recent years. :rolleyes: Most recently, we dined at the Crown Grill on three occasions between the Royal and Regal in the past 6 months. The service was less than wonderful with lots of requests having to be made more than once (additional butter, a missing side dish, more water...no one should have to ask for more water!, etc.) each of the visits. What happened to the top notch waiters that used to be in these specialty venues???

 

When dining with our friends on Valentines Day, a medium rare fillet was served to my friend completely well done....no pink to be found anywhere.

 

The rest of us had our meals in front of us and although trying to eat slowly, we were completely done with our meals before she received her 'more closely to medium rare' steak. When her steak was finally served, all the sides that were served to her originally were cold of course. You would think the waiter would know enough to remove them and bring her fresh, HOT sides! When she asked for new sides, the waiter was visibly irritated.

 

When the CG host came by and asked how things were, we let him know the meal and service was disappointing at best. He apologized and then disappeared. That was it! We still paid the $25.00 pp. We weren't even offered an after dinner drink (although I don't drink) to try and make things right. :mad: At minimum, her meal should have been removed from the bill.

 

After 20 cruises with Princess and many, many extra dollars spent for specialty dining along with other extras, we will no longer contribute to poor quality, poor service or over-priced 'extras' on board. We will now stick with the Dining Room & Buffet for our meals. :)

[Flatbush Flyer]

We have dined many times at the Crown Grill but do feel the quality in beef and service have disintegrated in recent years. :rolleyes: Most recently, we dined at the Crown Grill on three occasions between the Royal and Regal in the past 6 months. The service was less than wonderful with lots of requests having to be made more than once (additional butter, a missing side dish, more water...no one should have to ask for more water!, etc.) each of the visits. What happened to the top notch waiters that used to be in these specialty venues???

 

 

 

When dining with our friends on Valentines Day, a medium rare fillet was served to my friend completely well done....no pink to be found anywhere.

 

 

 

The rest of us had our meals in front of us and although trying to eat slowly, we were completely done with our meals before she received her 'more closely to medium rare' steak. When her steak was finally served, all the sides that were served to her originally were cold of course. You would think the waiter would know enough to remove them and bring her fresh, HOT sides! When she asked for new sides, the waiter was visibly irritated.

 

 

 

When the CG host came by and asked how things were, we let him know the meal and service was disappointing at best. He apologized and then disappeared. That was it! We still paid the $25.00 pp. We weren't even offered an after dinner drink (although I don't drink) to try and make things right. :mad: At minimum, her meal should have been removed from the bill.

 

 

 

After 20 cruises with Princess and many, many extra dollars spent for specialty dining along with other extras, we will no longer contribute to poor quality, poor service or over-priced 'extras' on board. We will now stick with the Dining Room & Buffet for our meals. :)

 

 

Why ever would you pay for that meal? At a minimum, when your concerns to a "host" fell on deaf ears, you should have spoken with the manager and/or, if necessary the hotel director (the following day).

 

On the "bigger picture" subject of cruise line food: why pay for specialty restaurants (or beverages) at all? Shouldn't the quality of food be excellent across-the-board from pool grill to "buffet" to MDR to "specialties" thus offering an assortment of different choices in cuisine and ambiance without nickel/diming you or subjecting you to differences in quality of food or service?

 

IMO, the last thing anyone on a cruise should have to experience in terms of food is paying extra only to trade between/among "good/better/best."

 

Though you may be a Princess loyalist, you might want to take a look at more inclusive, higher quality cruise lines like Oceania, which is a haven for many past Princess passengers looking to improve their journey, but not at a significantly higher price tag. With included airfare (or air credit) and free internet, as well as no charge for specialties or beverages and the addition of one extra "O Life" amenity (excursions OR alcohol OR OBC), you may want to compare Princess to Oceania for true 'net daily rate" costs when looking at your total dollar outlay. And, of course, there's also Oceania's reputation for the "best food at sea" to consider in the mix.

 

Finally, find a TA who is a top producer for Oceania. Their added gratuities and/or additional OBC will add significantly to the value of your experience.

[TexasBrit]

Having eaten in SHARE twice last week, the salty dog, and Crown Grill, I can safely say I will not be going back to Crown Grill.

 

 

We went to both Crown Grill and Sabatini's on Caribbean Princess recently and were disappointed in both. The food was nothing special and really no different than in the MDR in quality. In Crown Grill it was no better than in an average steakhouse such as Outback, and the service was not as good. Our server's clothes smelled of stale cigarettes. It was nowhere near as good as the Steakhouse on Carnival, which is more like an upscale steak restaurant such as Del Frisco or Ruths Chris.

Sabatini's was also only average, and nothing like the Sabatini's we had on a previous Princess cruise about 15 years ago. Neither were up to the quality of the special restaurant we experienced on Celebrity, for about the same price.

Overall we would not go again to either of them, and probably would not have done so this time if we had not had some OBC to use up.

 

And incidentally, the special pizza lunch in Sabatini's that some people stood in line for 30 mins or more for was less tasty than the pizza served on the pool deck. I was also surprised that there was a charge for tea during the Pub Lunch (I did not pay it) when it is free in the buffet and at tea time.

[keithm]

We have dined many times at the Crown Grill but do feel the quality in beef and service have disintegrated in recent years. :rolleyes: Most recently, we dined at the Crown Grill on three occasions between the Royal and Regal in the past 6 months. The service was less than wonderful with lots of requests having to be made more than once (additional butter, a missing side dish, more water...no one should have to ask for more water!, etc.) each of the visits. What happened to the top notch waiters that used to be in these specialty venues???

 

When dining with our friends on Valentines Day, a medium rare fillet was served to my friend completely well done....no pink to be found anywhere.

 

The rest of us had our meals in front of us and although trying to eat slowly, we were completely done with our meals before she received her 'more closely to medium rare' steak. When her steak was finally served, all the sides that were served to her originally were cold of course. You would think the waiter would know enough to remove them and bring her fresh, HOT sides! When she asked for new sides, the waiter was visibly irritated.

 

When the CG host came by and asked how things were, we let him know the meal and service was disappointing at best. He apologized and then disappeared. That was it! We still paid the $25.00 pp. We weren't even offered an after dinner drink (although I don't drink) to try and make things right. :mad: At minimum, her meal should have been removed from the bill.

 

After 20 cruises with Princess and many, many extra dollars spent for specialty dining along with other extras, we will no longer contribute to poor quality, poor service or over-priced 'extras' on board. We will now stick with the Dining Room & Buffet for our meals. :)

We did one 14 day trip on the Regal. The MDR food was generally quite good. Not up to Celebrity standards, but still good. The Crown Grill/Sabatini's the steaks were not very good quality, but the seafood was excellent. The staff service on board was generally better than anywhere else outside of Cunard's Queens Grill. The staff is one reason we will likely consider Princess again.

[keithm]

We went to both Crown Grill and Sabatini's on Caribbean Princess recently and were disappointed in both. The food was nothing special and really no different than in the MDR in quality. In Crown Grill it was no better than in an average steakhouse such as Outback, and the service was not as good. Our server's clothes smelled of stale cigarettes. It was nowhere near as good as the Steakhouse on Carnival, which is more like an upscale steak restaurant such as Del Frisco or Ruths Chris.

Sabatini's was also only average, and nothing like the Sabatini's we had on a previous Princess cruise about 15 years ago. Neither were up to the quality of the special restaurant we experienced on Celebrity, for about the same price.

Overall we would not go again to either of them, and probably would not have done so this time if we had not had some OBC to use up.

 

And incidentally, the special pizza lunch in Sabatini's that some people stood in line for 30 mins or more for was less tasty than the pizza served on the pool deck. I was also surprised that there was a charge for tea during the Pub Lunch (I did not pay it) when it is free in the buffet and at tea time.

Sorry, but the Filet Mignon I had 2 months ago at the Outback absolutely blew Crown Grill/Sabatini's Filets right out of the water. The staff, however on the Regal were totally fantastic. This is a reason we may give them a go in 2018. 2017 we have another 14 day trip on the Eclipse. If they drop in quality, we'll most definitely look at Princess again.

[mrs and mrs]

I wonder the same thing. I live in Australia and any local bowling club, RSL club or clubs like Wests serve average food. The Princess main dining room is several times better than any of my average suburban restaurants. Then there is the fast food restaurants that Princess food is like 100 times better than.

 

I am sure in popular cities there are true fine dining and gourmet restaurants that people pay top dollar to go to and these restaurants are no doubt better than Princess main dining rooms, however the main dining room on a Princess ship does have fantastic food in pleasant surroundings that make it a good experience.

 

The specialty restaurants are for special occasions. I have nothing against them but I do find the main dining room perfectly acceptable.

 

Totally agree,and how many times have we gone to a land-based restaurant and paid $150/$200,for a sub-standard meal,and sub-standard service.Hands-up everyone.

[riclop]

Everyone is raising prices.

[Astro Flyer]

Everyone is raising prices.

 

Raising prices to maintain a level of quality is understandable to me & hopefully it will result in a return to better tasting CG steaks.

 

Obviously taste is subjective but on several cruises in the past year the quality of the filet mignon was noticeably lower & I was embarrassed for recommending friends to dine with us because it was not anything exceptional like in prior years.

[Mike A]

Just came off the Royal Princess today. I can confirm all the specialty restaurants are now $29 including Crab Shack. I must say, contrary to some of the latest comments the quality of service and food were excellent including Crown Grill. Steaks grilled perfectly and the meat was high quality (Rib Eye) My daughter is a manager at a high end steak house in NY and the quality was close to equal.

I also would like to add that the Matre'D at Sabatini's told me that he was just informed that Sabitini's WILL NOT be converted to Share the Royal during dry dock at the end of the season. In fact you would never know Curtis Stone existed on the new Mediterranean Menu that was just introduced on the Royal for the summer season. Name not mentioned and the anytime menu had all the favorites except the Beef Medallion Tips which was only offered one night. Full review of the May 7th cruise to follow when I return from Rome. (It was excellent).

[Murphey]

Just came off the Royal Princess today. I can confirm all the specialty restaurants are now $29 including Crab Shack. I must say, contrary to some of the latest comments the quality of service and food were excellent including Crown Grill. Steaks grilled perfectly and the meat was high quality (Rib Eye) My daughter is a manager at a high end steak house in NY and the quality was close to equal.

I also would like to add that the Matre'D at Sabatini's told me that he was just informed that Sabitini's WILL NOT be converted to Share the Royal during dry dock at the end of the season. In fact you would never know Curtis Stone existed on the new Mediterranean Menu that was just introduced on the Royal for the summer season. Name not mentioned and the anytime menu had all the favorites except the Beef Medallion Tips which was only offered one night. Full review of the May 7th cruise to follow when I return from Rome. (It was excellent).

 

Will look forward to your review as we board her in 2 weeks. I take it you were happy with the MDR food as well?

[floridalover5623]

Name not mentioned and the anytime menu had all the favorites except the Beef Medallion Tips which was only offered one night. Full review of the May 7th cruise to follow when I return from Rome. (It was excellent).

 

That's a definite move in the right direction. :D

Sometimes it better to leave things as they were.;)